First major order for Tennessee lawmakers is speaker's vote

The first major order of business for the members after they're sworn in to 110th Tennessee General Assembly will be the election of the House and Senate speakers.

Tuesday, January 10th 2017, 9:31 am EST

The Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville. AP photo

By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The first major order of business for the members after they're sworn in to 110th Tennessee General Assembly will be the election of the House and Senate speakers.

State Sen. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge is the Republican nominee to succeed Senate Speake Ron Ramsey of Blountville, who did not seek re-election.

Ramsey became the first Republican Senate speaker since Reconstruction when he was elected to the upper chamber's top post in 2007. Since then, Republicans have built out supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

In the House, Republicans nominated Speaker Beth Harwell to a fourth term as speaker, though that vote was by a closer margin than two years ago. Harwell is mulling a bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam in 2018.

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